T.S. ELIOT GOES ON A DUCK TOUR

T.S. Eliot has this face he makes
as if to say he is not
angry at the world
just disappointed
He regards the surplus amphibious truck from World War II,
now full of tourists.
He makes a T.S. Eliot face
and thinks to himself,There’s a poem in this
In a leather-bound notepad he writes“I am participating in a Duck Tourand it is really awkward”
He stares at it for several minutes
then crosses it out.
He writes“Teiresias the prophet rides with Charon the guide of soulsin a boat of iron”
T.S. Eliot has trouble deciding
where exactly
Teiresias the prophet and Charon the guide of souls
are riding
in said boat of iron.

Meanwhile, in another poem:
Teiresias the prophet rides with Charon, the guide of souls
in a surplus amphibious truck from World War II
Charon announces over a PA“And on your left, you will seea vast stretch of iron-black watersover which hangs a vague sense of doom.Is it the river Styx?Is it the North Sea on a stormy day,four years after nine million young men died in filthy trenchesfrom mustard gas and artillerywhile you sat in a London Café, arguing with Ezra Pound about where to put the comma?”
Teiresias says“How the hell do you write about stuff like that?”

Somewhere, in a rough draft, T.S. Eliot writes

“April is the cruellest monthbecause of all the mustard gas and artillery”

“I will show you fear in a handful of dustand also in mustard gas and artillery”

“We are the hollow menbecause mustard gas and artillery will do that to you”

“This is the way the world endsNot with a bangBut with mustard gas and artilleryWhich, I realize,Does, in fact, make a bang.Shut up, Ezra Pound.”

Somewhere, on a duck tour
T.S. Eliot wonders how to write a poem
about the way The War To End All Wars
becomes a prequel no one remembers reading

T.S. Eliot looks out again at the world
with that face he makes
like he is not angry at it
just disappointed.